My word of the year for 2019 was LOOK. My prayer was to see who or what God wanted me to see. My professional theme for 2019 was: Go Global.
Words are so powerful.
In 2019, I indeed found what I was looking for and I saw who I was looking for. I also went global — I travelled to India twice, U.S. (New York, Florida, California), Bahamas, Honduras, Mexico, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Maldives. I’ll probably share more details about this in another post, together with my personal theme.
So let me now recall my blessings for 2019. I am sharing this in a blog to document how good God is. I also like going back to my Gratitude posts whenever I need an upper. Since you are part of my journey, I’d like to share my joy and gratitude with you as well.
1. Meeting Jack Canfield for the first time.
It was surreal to meet in person the bestselling author of the book Chicken Soup for the Soul. I joined his seminar-on-sea on board the Royal Caribbean Cruise with my friend Tita Ninang Susan Vidal.
Jack Canfield looked so pleasant and so young in person. I hugged him multiple times during the 8-day cruise.
2. International Speaking Engagements
2019 was a breakthrough year for me in terms of being a global speaker. I’ve spoken in other countries before but my audience were Filipinos.
In 2019, I spoke to non-Filipino audience in India, U.S., Malaysia, and the Maldives. I also hosted a big conference in Singapore.
3. Female Entrepreneur of the Year 2019
In June 12, 2019, I traveled back to India. I was awarded by the United Nations Global Entrepreneur Council as the Female Entrepreneur of the Year – Philippines. The awarding ceremony happened in Chennai, India wherein more than 15 countries participated.
I learned that there were about 3,700 applications and nominations and only 55 people were awarded. I was one of the two Filipinos who were awarded. The other one was Ram Olandesca who received the Edupreneur of the Year award.
I asked the organizers, “How did you learn about me?”
I asked because I didn’t apply for the award. I was nominated by the organizing committee.
The person I asked replied, “We’ve been following you for the past 6 months. We see what you do. We love what you do. Someday, we’d like to invite you to teach kids how to write books.”
4. Book Launch 6.0 for the graduates of The 90-Day Book Writing Challenge.
Authors from Oman, China, Samar, CDO, Cebu and other parts of the Philippines flew in to Manila to launch their books.
Here’s the video highlights:
5. Speaking Engagements in the Philippines
We’re happy and blessed to give talks on Goal Setting, The Power of Gratitude, Mission Happiness in the Workplace, and Speak to Inspire to companies and organizations in the Philippines.
I love giving talks and inspiring people through my talks. If you wish to invite me to speak in your company or event, visit http://shanacino.com/ or email us at info@shanacino.com.
6. Sharing the stage with Francis Kong, DTM Baby Luat, and Alex Quinsay.
It’s interesting how I got this speaking engagement. I was in Cebu for the Toastmasters District Convention. During the break, I decided to sit on one of the couches of that big hotel. Alex saw me and said, “Sha, I’m organizing this seminar in June and I’ve always wanted to invite you to speak in our events. Can I invite you to speak in our event?”
Speaking alongside Francis Kong was a big bonus as I got to see how he was behind the scenes. He is probably the most invited speaker in the Philippines. I’ve always wondered why and how he’s able to land 200+ or maybe 300+ speaking engagements a year. That afternoon, I understood why. His foundation was so deep, so is his integrity. Plus, his talk was well thought out, well researched, and full of insights. He is THE man!
7. Four (4) Online Summits : HR Summit Global™, World Gratitude Summit™, Global Success Summit™ with Jonathan Low, and Overseas Filipinos Summit™
What a privilege to interview global speakers and global thought leaders for all these online summits. I thank my team at Write University Clarice, Roland, Eunice, and Kim for helping me put up all these summits.
Here’s a clipping from my interview with Ron Kaufman, the world’s leading expert on customer service.
8. Manila International Book Fair
In September 2019, Write University participated at the Manila International Book Fair. This gave a chance to the graduates of The 90-Day Book Writing Challenge to sign books at the biggest book fair in the Philippines.
9. Global Authors Summit™ 2019
In November 16, 2019, we had Year 2 of the Global Authors Summit. Global Speakers from India, Malaysia, Singapore, and Canada flew in to Manila to support our event.
My heartfelt gratitude to Jonathan Low, Srijata Bhatnagar, Sangeeta Sumesh, Janet Yung, Kevin Cottam, Jason Lo, Susan Vidal, and the 14 graduates of The 90-Day Book Writing Challenge for sharing their love and expertise.
Here’s the video highlights from the Global Authors Summit Year 2.
10. Happy Team
Personal
Family Time
In 2019, I went home to our province a plane ride away from Manila for about 3-5 days each month so I can spend time with my Papa and our little siblings. It was one of the highlights of my month.
During one of my visits, I heard Papa tell his friends with pride and joy, “Sha always makes time to come home every month despite her busy schedule because she loves us.”
That melted my heart. I love my family. Family over work, always.
I have a beautiful relationship with my Papa. We say “I love you” to each other via text everyday. My brother March lives with me in Manila and I feel like we are each other’s confidantes. My little siblings Abby and Kyle are so cute! They laugh at almost everything! Haha! Every month when I go home to our province, I take them out on a date. We’d go to the park where they can run and bike around, play, and just enjoy. I am also grateful to Tita.
Friends
I am so grateful with the kind of friends God gave me. I have so many real friends. In 2019, God even increased the number of my friends.
When I travelled to the U.S., a global speaker friendDr. Rickand his family hosted me in their beautiful home in Miami. In New York, my high school friendJajaand her family hosted me in their condo for 8 days. They toured me around and treated me like family.
In New York, a friend also flew from Illinois to New York so he can tour me around for 3 days. We heard mass, watched Phantom of the Opera, climbed The Vessel, went to Elise Island and the Statue of Liberty, spent time conversing and people watching at the Central, and so on. He was such a generous and kind host. I feel so grateful.
When I flew to L.A., my cousin Manang Precy and her family hosted me and toured me around as well. Then my niece Cerisse and her husband Jimbo even drove for 8 hours so they can bring me to San Jose, California, my next destination. I’m so overwhelmed with their love and generosity.
Also, when I went to India, my friend Jyotsna and her family hosted me in their home.
I feel so grateful because I am surrounded by loving, kind, and generous friends in the Philippines and wherever I go anywhere in the world.
I’ve met new friends who told me, “Sha, when you get to visit Australia (or Bangkok or Singapore), you can stay in our home.”
I value and love all of my friends and I want to love them in a way that is pleasing to God.
(Note: The people in the photos are some of my friends. I have other dear friends who I love deeply that were not in these photos because I can’t seem to find their photos on my phone. Hehe!)
I moved to my new condo.
In May 2019, I moved to my dream condo. I love the ambiance, the pool, the lobby, the roof deck and my own place. I hired interior designers Maica and Marvin and I love how they dressed up my place. I love hammocks, so I have my cute hammock in the sala. It’s my safe space when I want to feel like a child and just relax. Hehe!
Here’s how I got the condo. While I was setting my goals in January 2018, I wrote down, “I want to live in a 2-bedroom brand new DMCI condo that is less than two kilometres away from my office and I want to move in the new condo in about a year.”
Technically, that’s a challenge because if I wanted a brand new condo and move in the new condo in a year, I should have bought the condo at pre-selling some four years prior.
God is so good and is a God of surprises. He already knew what I wanted and He already prepared for it in advance. Four years ago, my friend’s husband and my friend bought the condo at pre-selling. Later on, they migrated to another country… and the condo was sold to me. The condo is brand new and the turnover was April 2019. We had a month to dress it up. Perfect!
In the past few years, I’d always go on workations/staycations in hotels. These days, I don’t have to go to hotels to feel relaxed. The condo where I live makes me feel like I’m always on vacation. Thank you, DMCI! 🙂
My LEAP Journey
In October 2019, my friend Ren invited me to join the LEAP trilogy. It’s a personal leadership excellence program. At first, I had no plans to join because I’ve been actively attending personal development programs from January 2019 to September 2019. At the last minute, I decided to attend. For me, that was the best personal development programs I have ever attended.
The program helped me become vulnerable and in touch with my emotions. The biggest blessing the program gave me was that it led me to finding the one I’ve been looking for — myself! 🙂 I’ll share an entirely new post about this in the future.
The bonus? I gained new friends. God, I have so many friends and I feel like I’m a magnet for loving people. Hehe!
First Time to Sing in Public! 🙂
In 2019, I sang in public for the first time. That was a milestone for me.
Background: I’ve always wanted to sing but everyone around teased me not to sing. They all agreed that I was tone deaf and I couldn’t carry a tune. I saw that as their way of loving me and I started to believe them.
But one person heard me sing and said, “Sha, you have a beautiful voice. You were born to sing.”
That person happened to be a voice coach. I listened to him and gave myself a chance. And voila, this is the result.
Believe you can and you will. 🙂
FUN travels
2019 was a year of travels for me. It was my first time to go on a cruise. It was also my first time to visit the U.S., Honduras, Bahamas, Mexico, India, and the Maldives. Then I also traveled to Malaysia and Singapore.
I had so much fun traveling. I enjoy traveling! This is is the lifestyle I like. I can see myself traveling the world with my husband and our children — I, giving talks while my husband does business, and my husband and I homeschooling (world schooling) our children. 🙂 (Hi God! I’m ready to meet my future husband. Send him to me in Your perfect time. Amen.)
Journey to Self Love
It was in January 2019 when I learned the concept of self love. I learned it from Brig. Sushil Bhasin during a global summit for speakers in India.
At first, his definition of self love sounded selfish to me. He said that the most important person in your life is YOURSELF and that the person you need to love first is YOURSELF.
Later on, I realised how profound his definition was. I also started reading books on self love and their teachings were aligned with Brig. Sushil’s.
Prior to January 2019, my default was to always put others first (either my family or my friends or my clients, etc.) and myself last. I didn’t even have clear and healthy boundaries. I didn’t know how to say no when someone asked me for a favour. If I did say no, I’d feel so guilty.
I am glad I took the Self Love journey. Today, I can feel that I do love myself more and better. I now have clear and healthy boundaries. These days, I feel more and more comfortable with myself. I love myself whether I did well or not. I love myself whether I had a productive day or not. I love my emotions — the good and the bad. During the times I’d get hurt because of circumstances or other people’s behaviour, I also took those as opportunities to love myself even more.
It’s an ongoing journey and I am loving the journey. Because I love myself more now, I also sensed that I am more loving to other people.
There you go.
Part of my daily habit is journaling 5 things I’m grateful for each day. In 2019, I wrote down 1,825 blessings in my gratitude journal called the Mission Happiness Journal. I also wrote additional blessings in my Gratitude app. It’s FUN to count your blessings.
I’d love to hear from you. What were your 2019 blessings? Please share in the comments.
I wish love, joy, and peace to reign in your heart today and everyday.
P.S. One of my passions is to help companies engage their employees and increase their sales and productivity through The Power of Gratitude. If you would like to invite me to speak in your company or event, simply email me at info@shanacino.com
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Sha Nacino is one of the most sought-after Filipino motivational speakers in the Philippines. She is the bestselling author of the books Money&Me, Mission Happiness, plus 7 other books.
Sha is the founder of The 90-Day Book Writing Challenge where she helps first time authors write their books. She also writes for Bo Sanchez's TrulyRichClub newsletters.
She regularly gives talks on Personal Finance, Happiness, Purpose, Success Principles, etc. If you wish to invite Sha to speak in your company or events, visit shanacino.com or email her at sha@seminarphilippines.com.
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Sha Nacino is one of the most sought-after Filipino motivational speakers in the Philippines. She is the bestselling author of the books Money&Me, Mission Happiness, plus 7 other books.
Sha is the founder of The 90-Day Book Writing Challenge where she helps first time authors write their books. She also writes for Bo Sanchez's TrulyRichClub newsletters.
She regularly gives talks on Personal Finance, Happiness, Purpose, Success Principles, etc. If you wish to invite Sha to speak in your company or events, visit shanacino.com or email her at sha@seminarphilippines.com.
